Temporal Flux
by vampirekyawl
Summary: The Guardian is a patrol ship on the Federation border with the Breen. One day after going after a Breen ship escaping into Federation space, they find themselves orbiting WWII Earth. What are the Breen planning? How can they get back? All original chars.
1. Prologue

It's July of 1942. Most of the people who hurry along the hot streets of New York City are women and children. The men are middle aged or older, not considered physically capable of fighting the war overseas. Many women wear the black of mourning, signifying that their husbands have fallen in battle.

Two nicely dressed men board a bus in Manhattan. They're young men, not dressed in any type of military uniform that might suggest shore leave, and receive many stares, some simply curious, others hostile. These two men were able avoid the draft for medical reasons. While their peers fight a growing enemy, they live a life as close to luxury as one can get in these hard times. They talk for a few blocks, watching the other passengers enter and exit. When they reach Midtown, they halt in their speech, attention focused on one person getting on the bus.

It's a young woman in a serious, dark grey pantsuit. Despite the concealing, modest outfit, they find her attractive, with pale skin and dark hair that falls level with her chin. She sits down in an empty seat, surrounded by other people and yet so obviously alone. Mostly she looks at the door, as if eager to get off the bus as quickly as possible.

A passenger sitting next to the woman stands up and leaves at the next stop. One of the young men moves quickly to take the seat. The woman glances at him but otherwise does not acknowledge his presence. He notices that the outer ends of her eyebrows are somewhat upturned, giving her a slightly angered look. He grins at her.

"Hello," he says in a voice deeper than usual. He thinks it makes him sound better. She barely looks at him.

"Hello." Her voice is just louder than a whisper.

"So…you're dressed up for work?" he asks suavely, unable to think of another topic.

She raises an eyebrow for a moment. "No," she answers as she turns towards him. Her voice is oddly even, and a serious expression never leaves her face. He wonders if his question has somehow insulted her.

"Oh." He fumbles for something else to say. He then decides to stick with a classic topic. As she begins to turn around again he asks, "Nice weather, isn't it?" He is barely able to stop himself from visibly wincing; it sounded better in his head.

A short hesitation, and then, "I suppose it is pleasant." He wishes she would show some sort of emotion on her face or in her voice. After a few quite moments he speaks again.

"Is your husband fighting in the war?" He decides to make a move and is pleased when she replies.

"I am not married." He smiles at her and reaches forward to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. Suddenly she looks down at her lap, turning her head away from him and putting his target out of reach. They've reached the next stop. "I must leave here." She gets up quickly and exits through the door.

The young man leans back in his seat, embarrassed. His friend comes to sit next to him. "What were you thinking? She could've been a widow or something." The first man sighs.

"I was thinking that she's pretty." His friend shakes his head disappointedly.

"You'll never learn."

Back at the bus stop, waiting for the next bus to come so she can resume her course, the young woman stands eerily still as other begin to gather, several complaining angrily that they missed the last bus. She thinks about what has just occurred, and is relieved that the man did not move her hair. She did not think he would react well to seeing the pointed tips of her ears.


	2. Chapter 1

~Three Days Earlier~

A breeze was tousling his hair as he stared out across the water, looking, searching, for what, he didn't know. That's when the wind started to pick up, blowing sand at his face. The sky went from pure blue and sparsely interrupted by patches of white, soft clouds to dark and ominous, with purplish-black clouds that hung low and heavy like monsters lurking in the shadows. There! Through squinted eyes he saw, just barely hidden by the mist far out that had suddenly rolled in, a boat appear. It heaved and rocked with the wildly crashing waves that threatened to overturn it. Slowly, it made its way towards land. It stopped before the water became too shallow and a figure dropped out. The shadowy silhouette came towards him. Hair whipped about the face and yet the figure made no move to stop it. It was closer now. He could almost make out the face. Just a few more steps and-

"Captain!" Liam Pierce, Captain of the Federation starship U.S.S. Guardian, jerked out of his unusually detailed daydream. He'd been recalling the dream he had from last night.

"Ensign?" He addressed the pilot, Ensign Marcus Albry, though he wasn't quite sure it had been him who'd spoken. It was.

"We have to drop to a lower warp speed, sir, two or three. Radiation from the nearby star system could cause the warp core to breach if there's too much energy being released. Once we get a few light years away we should be fine, though." The Captain, impatient to get back to his daydream, nodded. The humming of the warp core, which could be heard on every deck in every room and could even be felt on the hull if you stood still for long enough, audibly lessened as the ship dropped from warp six to warp two. They were still going faster than light, but the pinpricks of light that were the stars seemed to go by slower.

Then, suddenly breaking the relative silence, "The sensors are detecting a Breen ship. It appears to be orbiting a nearby planet." The ship's tactical officer, Lieutenant Sarin, normally had a soft, quiet voice but could sound very commanding when she wanted to. This was one of those times. The Captain turned to look at her.

"We have a peace treaty," he reminded her gently, knowing the young half-Vulcan's dedication to the ship's security. He didn't want to offend her.

"It is possible that they might not abide by it. There _are_ factions who oppose the Breen government and wish harm to the Federation." Sarin's voice was softer this time. The Captain smiled slightly.

"We're close to Breen space. They're probably just making sure we don't get _too_ close. As long as we stay on our side and they stay on theirs, we'll all be fine. If they approach us at warp eight and charge their weapons, that's when I want to know, okay?" He saw her jaw tighten, but she nodded, then turned her head down and began tapping panels. The Captain smiled again at her and twisted back into a comfortable position in his chair. He leaned back and was about to call forth his dream again when a voice came over the com.

"Engineering to the Captain." He knew that voice and groaned as he sat up. Both Commander Collins, sitting next to him, and the voice in Engineering laughed.

"Sorry, sir," Lieutenant Nakamura chuckled. Then, in a somewhat amused voice, he said, "My team and I were doing a routine diagnostic check before in Jeffrey's Tube 14, looking for the reason why none of the replicators on Deck Eight are working – we still don't know why – and we found something…interesting. Maybe you should come down here and take a look." The Captain sighed dramatically as he stood.

"I'm on my way." He began to walk towards the door and stopped by the tactical station. He put his hand on Sarin's shoulder and said, "Only if they approach us, Lieutenant." She gave him a solemn look and nodded. He reached the turbolift and stepped in. Before the doors slid closed he said, "You have the Bridge, Commander," and then, "Engineering." He felt the turbolift begin to move.

When the doors slid open he was on the first floor of the main Engineering room. The warp core, still humming loudly, glowed bright enough to be the room's main source of light. The Captain spotted Lieutenant Nakamura standing by one of the control panels. When he saw who was standing next to him, Captain Pierce covered his face with his hands, hoping that it was all just an annoying dream. He pulled his hands down and let them drop. The little girl standing next to Nakamura had red hair and bright green eyes. He walked towards them.

"Daddy!" she said sweetly before hugging him around the waist. He patted her head in a sarcastic kind of way, then lifted her chin up.

"Do I really want to know why you were in the Jeffrey's Tube and not in school?" he asked her, exasperated. He looked back up at Lieutenant Nakamura. "Thanks, Lucas." The other man grinned.

"No problem, sir. Now, I have to go fix the replicators before I get any more nasty messages from people on Deck Eight who can't replicate their lunch or their cat's food or the new mouthpiece for their trombone." He laughed. "I wish I knew why Ensign McCauley has a trombone, anyway. He has no musical talent whatsoever." The Captain looked back to his daughter as the Chief of Engineering walked away, chuckling softly to himself.

"Morgan, you can't just–" He was cut off by the com.

"Commander Collins to the Captain. I know you only wanted to be informed if the Breen ship was advancing on us, but I think this is worthy of some concern. They've left orbit of the planet. They're not headed this way, but, and this is assuming they don't change direction, Lieutenant Sarin was able to extrapolate their current course. Sir, they're headed for Earth." Captain Pierce stared ahead, though he wasn't really looking. It was their job to patrol this part of Federation space. That meant keeping Breen ships out. He closed his eyes for a moment, thinking, then opened them.

"Alright, good work. Ensign Albry, set a pursuit course. As soon as we can jump to a higher warp, do so. I don't want them anywhere near Earth. I'll be there in a minute." The com channel closed with a click as he turned back to his daughter. "Morgan, we'll talk about this tonight. Now, I want you to go back to class, and for real this time." He tapped her com badge gently. "If you don't, this'll show us. I'll have Lieutenant Sarin track you down and bring you to school in handcuffs if I have to." She giggled at the image. "Now, come on."

They walked to the turbolift together. In a few moments the Captain was back on the Bridge and all thoughts of mysterious dreams and peace treaties were out of his mind. The only thing he cared about at the moment was the image of the Breen ship on the view screen that was slowly getting larger as they neared.


	3. Chapter 2

Captain Pierce clenched his jaw so hard that it made his teeth hurt; The Breen ship was still too far away. He looked at the pilot. "Ensign, why aren't we getting any closer?" he demanded.

"Sir…the radiation is still affecting our warp core. I-I don't know where it's coming from. But it's lessened a bit, we've already increased to warp three-point-five. It's possible that there's still residual particles left on the ship…" Ensign Albry sounded nervous, but he didn't let it show in his performance. He handled the ship's piloting controls with ease.

"Captain," Lieutenant Damien Rigatos, the science officer at the Operations Station, spoke up, "due to certain sensor readings, I believe that the radiation is eminating from the Breen ship." A heavy Greek accent made him somewhat difficult to understand. It took the rest of the Bridge officers a short moment to decipher what he'd said. Commander Collins shifted uncomfortably in her seat at the news. Why would the Breen ship, obviously in a hurry to get somewhere, emit radiation that would affect their own warp field?

The Captain, showing no acknowledgment that he'd heard Lieutenant Rigatos, then sat quietly, thinking hard. Unable to come up with an alternate solution, he said, "Ensign Albry, increase our speed to warp five." His voice sounded louder than usual in the stifling quiet that had enveloped the Bridge like a heavy blanket. Marcus hesitated.

"But…sir…that could destroy the-"

"I'm aware of what could happen! Now increase our speed or I'll have you put in the Brig for insubordination!" Captain Pierce, agitated, exploded suddenly, and even as he said it his words sounded unreasonable to his own ears. But the Captain's job wasn't to baby his officers, and their jobs weren't to question the direct orders from the Captain.

Ensign Albry hurried to increase the speed. At first nothing seemed to happen, but then the Bridge began to shake violently. A panel behind Lieutenant Sarin exploded in a series of loud sparks. She ducked and managed to avoid being burned. Soon sparks were flying everywhere. However, they were gaining ground in approaching the Breen vessel, as the Captain had hoped.

"Just a bit closer," Captain Pierce murmured to himself. The image on the now flickering View Screen was getting larger. Suddenly there was a loud, explosive sound as a conduit by the turbolift burst.

"Captain," Lieutenant Sarin struggled to be heard over the noise, "perhaps we should lower our speed now. At this rate, the warp core is becoming highly unstable. It could breach at any moment."

"Maybe you should listen to her!" Commander Collins shouted over the hissing of the plasma escaping the ruptured conduit when she saw that the Captain did not seem to be considering Lieutenant Sarin's suggested course of action. The Captain glanced at her.

"Not yet; we're almost there…" A massive explosion shook the Bridge, knocking Commander Collins and Ensign Albry off their chairs. Lieutenant Sarin was thrown backwards into the wall behind her, forcing her into unconsciousness.

"Ensign, now!" Captain Pierce shouted. From the floor, Marcus tapped a panel, slowing the ship back to warp two. As suddenly as the explosions had began, they quieted. The Bridge ceased its shaking and the lighting, which had gone dark with flashing red lights signaling that they were on Red Alert, returned to normal. The View Screen showed that they were now much closer to the Breen ship.

Captain Pierce surveyed the damage on the Bridge with a quick, but very thorough, glance. There were loose wires hanging from the ceiling, the one conduit was still leaking plasma, several of the panels that lined the walls were dark, and four Bridge officers were injured, including Lieutenant Sarin. With Commander Collins' dark eyes on him, the Captain tapped his com badge, opening a channel.

"Captain to Sick Bay. Dr. Harper, we have a medical emergency – several actually – on the Bridge."

"Aye, sir." The voice that came over the com channel was that of a man who, though young, already spoke with the experience of someone older than himself. "I'll send a medical team. Sir, we're receiving reports of injuries from all over the ship. What just happened?"

"I'll fill you in later, Doctor."

"Captain," Dr. Harper managed to convey a sense of acknowledgment and finality into that one word. The channel closed.

Captain Pierce looked at Lieutenant Rigatos. "Hail them." Damien nodded and tapped a panel.

"A channel's open, sir."

The Captain took a deep breath. "This is Captain Liam Pierce of the Federation starship _U.S.S. Guardian_ to the Breen ship. Please halt in your advance any further into Federation space and state your intentions." After a moment of silence Captain Pierce began to wonder if they had heard him. He was soon reassured that his message had been received.

The Breen replied suddenly with a phaser beam. It was a warning shot only, though. The _Guardian_'s shields easily blocked it. Captain Pierce gritted his teeth. It could never be easy, could it?

"Please," he repeated, more because his tactical officer had just been taken off the Bridge unconscious than because he didn't want a fight, "halt your advance. We mean no harm. We simply wish to know why you've traveled into our space." This time the Breen ship answered with words, however they were the incomprehensible clicks and computerized sounds characteristic of the Breen language. Captain Pierce had hoped that they would use English, as the Federation had not yet programmed a translator that could work on the Breen's odd way of communication. During the peace negotiations that had taken place about five years ago, the Breen ambassadors had used English and Vulcan to communicate with the Federation officials. The com channel closed.

"Sir, they're slowing down," Lieutenant Rigatos reported. "They've dropped out of warp." Captain Pierce told Ensign Albry to do the same.

"What are they doing?" the Captain mused quietly. They watched on the View Screen as a section of the Breen ship glowed bright red, then what appeared to be a long, thin rod with a hole in the top that traveled down through the center slid out of a particularly bright spot. A greenish yellow light started to gather at the opening of the rod's hole and grew.

The Captain jumped out of his seat and spun around to face Lieutenant Rigatos. "Lieutenant! What's happening?" He shouted his words in a mixture of anger, frustration and shock.

"The sensors-" At that moment the turbolift doors slid open and Lieutenant Sarin happened to return to the Bridge.

"To your station, Lieutenant!" the Captain, agitated and frustrated, snapped at her. Sarin seemed somewhat taken aback by his outburst, but complied nonetheless. She walked lightly to the Tactical Station and relieved the young ensign who had taken over for her. He seemed more than happy to leave. The officers on the Bridge then turned back to Damien.

"The sensors are picking up large amounts of the radiation that's been affecting our warp core becoming concentrated at the end of that obtrusion, as well as concentrations of takyion and kronaton particles. They appear to be creating some sort of singularity."

"They want to time travel," Commander Collins said quietly, putting into words the thing they had all been thinking. "Is there any way we can disable their device?" she asked Damien, who shook his head.

"It's possible that a well-aimed torpedo might destroy it, but highly unlikely. I've never seen this alloy that the device is made of. It appears to be next to unbreakable, similar to diamond." Damien sounded more mystified and curious than anything else.

Captain Pierce turned to look at Lieutenant Sarin. "Do it. Shoot a few torpedoes at different spots on the device." She nodded and busied herself with it. The View Screen showed five torpedoes emerge from the _Guardian_ and hit the device.

"Captain," Sarin said, "there was no effect. The object's structural integrity is intact and the collection of particles does not seem to have been affected. I would also like to point out, sir, that the device is aimed in the direction of Earth." Captain Pierce swallowed hard.

They all watched in fascinated horror as the green light strengthened. The inside of the tube turned red. Suddenly the red shot out of the rod, pushing and pulling with it the green light. It created a long stretch of red and green light, mingled together in an ethereal fashion, that possibly went all the way to Earth. The red light seemed to have an end that finally left the tube after a few seconds. The end nearest to the two ships lengthened and opened like a funnel, like a wormhole. The Breen ship moved closer and appeared to be swept up by some sort of current that dragged it through the singularity's mouth and into the eerie darkness within.

"Follow them, Ensign," Captain Pierce ordered. Marcus moved the ship forward as the mouth began to collapse. They too were caught in the same current that hauled them inside the singularity. The View Screen started to flicker as the Bridge shook again. This time, however, there were no explosions. Suddenly the View Screen, as well as every other panel and light on the Bridge, went dark, leaving them blind as the floor beneath their feet lurched and shook.

After about a minute of darkness, the lights and panels came back to life. The View Screen flickered on, showing them a picture of Earth. The Breen ship was nowhere to be found. Captain Pierce turned to look at Damien as the turbolift doors opened and Lieutenant Nakamura and Dr. Harper stepped onto the Bridge.

"Lieutenant?"

"We're just outside the orbit of Earth, sir." But the Earth looked strange, different. Suddenly Damien pressed his eyebrows together. "The sensors are picking up signs of out-dated forms of communication on the surface. There appear to be battles going on in Europe and in areas of the South Pacific. Toxins and carbon dioxide concentrations in the air are higher than they should be. There are also high levels of toxins in the water. And the global temperature is warmer than usual."

Lieutenant Sarin spoke. "I do not believe that this is the same Earth we left."

"No," Lieutenant Rigatos agreed. "If the sensors are correct, then we are currently in the 20th Century, the early 1940s. I believe World War II is taking place."

The officers on the Bridge looked on the world, the Earth of most of their ancestors, and the war that cost over 50 million lives. They didn't know what the Breen were planning, but if they picked this time period, it couldn't be good.


	4. Chapter 3

Commander Collins eyed the Captain as he and Lieutenant Nakamura gathered around Damien to see the sensors' results. Doctor Christian Harper was by the Tactical Station scanning Sarin, probably to make sure that she had suffered no serious head injuries after being knocked unconscious. Satisfied that Captain Pierce would not hear the conversation she was about to have, she walked quickly over to them.

"Doctor," she said in a low voice, "It might be best for the Captain if you took some scans of him. He's been acting strange today. He's been…–"

"Irrational?" Sarin offered. Commander Collins nodded.

"At first, I thought it was just nerves. I mean, Starfleet's expecting him to give a big speech for the Voyager Anniversary tomorrow – well, I suppose if this is the World War II era it isn't tomorrow anymore – but he's usually more controlled than this. He's been yelling at people all morning. Due to the severity of our situation, I think this is worth looking in to." Doctor Harper nodded gravely. Not for the first time, Commander Collins was struck by the seriousness that this young man seemed to take everything with. A small part of her mind wondered what type of childhood he'd had, growing up in the colonies, that might have instilled him with this.

Just then the Captain spoke. "I've decided to send down a small team – just three people – to the surface. They'll be beaming into New York City where they can blend in and determine the year and what condition the war is in. I'll be going, as well as Lieutenants Rigatos and Sarin. We'll have one hour."

"Sir," said Christian, "as the chief medical officer aboard the _Guardian_, it's my opinion that Commander Collins should lead the landing party in place of yourself. You – look flushed. You might be sick, and being around people who only have access to early 20th century medicine would be…very bad for you." _Whatever life he had_, Commander Collins thought, _he certainly never learned how to tell a convincing lie. Well, maybe the Captain won't notice_.

"I feel fine, Doctor," Captain Pierce said adamantly. The Doctor stood up straighter. He might not have been a good liar, but he knew that if he ordered the Captain to stay due to a medical reason, the Captain had to stay.

"Sir, I insist. Really, you don't look well. You have to stay, for your own good." The Captain looked like he might say something back, but seemed to change his mind. He nodded, then turned to Commander Collins.

"Well, it looks like you have this one," he conceded.

***

The away team, dressed in early 20th century clothing, stood on the transporter pad. Lieutenant Rigatos had on a simple jacket, shirt and pants. Where Commander Collins donned a pale pink dress, Sarin wore a severe looking siren suit, made up of a jacket and a skirt, her hair carefully arranged to hide her ears. Sarin had told them that if she needed to go down again, she would wear pants, as she found the skirt to be "impractical attire for a security officer." Turning to face them, the Captain reminded them of their mission and time limit, and then the transporter was activated. The three officers seemed to disintegrate into blue specks of light as the beam took apart and reassembled their molecules.

That's when something strange happened. For a moment, just as Lieutenant Rigatos materialized on Earth, he noticed that he didn't seem to be where he should. They had meant to beam directly into the city, in a deserted area. But he was standing on dirt. Dirt and leaves. There were trees surrounding him, blocking some of the light, turning much of the air a slight tint of green. Just across from where he was standing, a small group of people jumped up. He had startled them when he beamed in. What they were wearing confused him. It wasn't much, mostly brown loincloths.

Then he was in what looked to be an alleyway, standing behind Sarin and Commander Collins. They were already near the end of the alley, going to the street. Commander Collins looked around at him.

"Lieutenant, come on!" No one else seemed to have noticed what happened, so Damien decided that he was probably just tired. He hadn't slept much recently, come to think of it. And the transporter was known to do strange things to the mind once in a while. Shaking his head to clear it, he followed the two women out of the alley.

The three officers managed to find their way to a busier part of town. Damien checked the odd little contraption he had been given called a "pocket watch" and saw that they still had about forty-five minutes left. _Plenty of time,_ he thought.

Commander Collins spotted a shabbily-dressed man selling newspapers. She started in his direction and stopped after realizing that they had no money with which to buy a newspaper. When she returned to Damien and Sarin with her revelation, they both seemed to have already come to the same conclusion.

"Well," Damien said thoughtfully after a few moments, "perhaps we could _borrow_ one."

"What? You want us to steal a newspaper?" Commander Collins gasped, outraged, perhaps a little too loudly as several people nearby turned to look at them. She expected Sarin to have a similar reaction, but the half-Vulcan had different thoughts.

"For us to return to our own time," she talked in a casual voice, loud enough only for their own ears, "it is essential that we know the date. If we are even a day off, we would end up at a different time than when we left, further contaminating the time line. It is also essential that we know what is happening in the world. The Breen traveled here for a purpose, I am sure, and we must learn what they plan to do if we wish to stop it. Their activities in Earth's past could have disastrous effects in our present. Therefore, we need one of those documents that man is selling. If we cannot afford to buy one, theft may be our only option. However, before we commit to crime and draw attention to ourselves, perhaps we should ask someone if they would be willing to let us see what it says."

Damien grinned. "You know, that's what I meant by 'borrow'." Commander Collins blushed slightly.

"Oh. Well, anyway, who would let us have their paper? I'm no expert on this time period, but I don't think "May I see your paper?" is a common question."

"I'll let you have mine." All three officers jumped at the voice coming from behind them. They turned around quickly to see an elderly African-American man standing there holding out a folded newspaper. He smiled at them. "Sometimes it's such a hassle to carry these things around everywhere, especially when you don't plan on using them again. If you can give it to someone who needs it, then you're doing everyone a favor." Sarin, eyes wide, held out her arm and accepted the newspaper from the old man.

"Umm…thank you," Commander Collins said nervously. "I don't mean to be rude, but how much of…of our conversation did you happen to hear?

"Oh, most of it I suppose," the man said, still smiling. "From when your friend here started on her explanation of why you need a paper so badly. But I won't tell anyone. I promise. My name is Louis, by the way. Louis Bellefontaine." With that, he turned and disappeared into the crowd.

After a moment of stunned silence, Damien spoke up. "Commander, now that we have the information that we need, perhaps we should return to the ship. We can review the newspaper there and use the computer database to compare the events that have been recorded here with what happened in our history." Commander Collins nodded.

The officers backtracked and, after several wrong turns, managed to find their way back to the alley from which they had originally come. Commander Collins tapped her com badge, opening a communication channel.

"Commander Collins to the _Guardian_. We believe we have the necessary information. Three to beam up."

"Aye, Commander," was the reply from the ship. Once again the blue specks of light that made the transporter beam enveloped their bodies, disassembling their molecules to bring back up to the ship in about a second.


	5. Chapter 4

No air. No ground. No up or down, left or right. Pinpricks of light sparkled in the distance. The silhouette of a planet blocked the searing light of the sun behind it. But everything was getting dark, and not even the stars could illuminate this darkness. There was pain.

And it was cold. So cold.


End file.
